Any old-time San Franciscans out there who remember Playland-at-the-Beach?

[red dog 1]

19. My friends & I used to hike around the steep slopes of the man-made rock formation...

..just across Great Highway from the Cliff House. (at the west end of Sutro Park)
The "rock formation" was actually made of plaster, and we would climb inside it at the places where it was broken.
It was very steep, & dangerous too, and you weren't supposed to climb up there, but we did it all the time.

You say you hiked around the Sutro Bath ruins.
Did you ever go into the Sutro Museum, just up the hill from the Cliff House?
We went there often...it was free...and it was a truly great museum.
They had all kinds of very old arcade games, including a miniature roller coaster made out of toothpicks.
There was a large skating rink on the bottom floor.
They also had a "Tom Thumb" exhibit, with many of his clothes, as well as his wife's clothes, and many photos of the two of them.
The Sutro Museum also had a Tucker automobile...all roped off so you couldn't touch it or get in it, but we used to just stand there & look at it...they left the driver's side door open so you could see inside the car.
Also, behind the Museum and the Cliff House, there used to be a Tram that ran from the back of the Cliff House, about 200 feet over the beach to some caves, which you could walk into and which ended with a view of Baker's Beach (I think)
It cost 50 cents for the round trip tram ride.

I also remember the slot car track at the north end of Playland.
.(in fact, a life-long friend of mine managed it for a while).

I saw the Grateful Dead there too, several times, after it was turned into "The Family Dog" auditorium.

I also remember going there many times to see Stephen Gaskin at his "Monday Night Class"
(Gaskin taught English, Creative Writing & Semantics at S.F. State)
Hippies from all over the Bay Area would fill that place every Monday night, listening to Gaskin tell about his experiences with psychedelic drugs, paranormal experiences. and "ecological awareness."
In 1970, Gaskin was part of a caravan of 60 vehicles that left SF to cross the United States to settle in Summertown, Tennessee and started a commune there called "The Farm"
(The Wall Street Journal referred to "The Farm" as "the General Motors of American Communes&quot
Gaskin & his followers did a lot of good for the poor, indigenous people, whales and old-growth trees.
An example of this was their raising 1,200 earthquake-resistant homes in Guatemala, as well as several public buildings and water lines to five villages.
I knew a couple of people who left SF with Gaskin, including a musician who used to play in the SF band "Mt. Rushmore".
He & his wife helped form the band at Gaskin's Tennessee commune called "The Farm Band," which recorded several albums

Thanks for your reply - it brought back some good memories.